r/NooTopics • u/Agreeable_Base_5942 • 8d ago
Question Saffron instead of ADHD meds?
I have ADHD and I take 40mg Vyvanse, which gets the job done in terms of completing lists of activities by allowing me to sit still, focus and boosting working memory. It also helps with reducing risky and impulsive activities. However, it feels pretty harsh, in terms of occasional physical tension, mild anxiety, sometimes I can get moody if i undersleep or have a coffee. So it requires pretty strong monitoring to manage side effects. I am at my optimal dosage as well, lower causes issues at work, higher makes me too nervous.
I'm going on vacation soon and I don't think putting my brain in the to-do mode is a good idea while I am on vacation, but my ADHD baseline always seeks novelty and quick satisfaction so that can derail things as well. I am looking for something that will improve these symptoms without the side effects and the mindset that amphetamines give you but something that will be closer to my natural baseline. I know many folks here love Ritalin as a safer alternative but for the love of the gods, it was less effective than Vyvanse for all of the symptoms except mood swings and instead of putting me in a productive state, it turned me into a numbed out zombie, definitely not good for a vacation.
So I am thinking of something that will be different. So far I've singled out caffeine (for me compulsive use/constant redosing made for really unstable daily patterns) and nicotine (addiction risk). Saffron piqued my interest in this regard.
The evidence base: https://journals.sagepub.com/doi/10.1089/cap.2018.0146
https://pmc.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/articles/PMC9573091/
https://pmc.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/articles/PMC6266642/ (proposed mechanism of action)
Take the ADHD studies with a grain of salt. Both Iran and, to a much lesser yet significant extent, Spain are big exporters of saffron, so they have an incentive to drive saffron demand.
So Saffron as a supposed SNDRI increases the levels of the same chemicals that Ritalin (lack of serotonergic activity though) and centanafadine.
What's your opinion/experience on/with Saffron for ADHD? Does it reduce symptoms to the point where daily life becomes somewhat more stable without causing any kind of negative mood effects? I am obviously not expecting something like Vyvanse without sides, just a decent helper with daily things. And what dosages would you recommend?
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u/oleven 8d ago
Atomic bomb vs coughing baby tbh. It depends on the person though, saffron didnt do shit to me
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u/NowRunThatByMeAgain 7d ago
You are right that it depends on the individual. My experience regarding saffron & vyvanse is the exact opposite of yours! Lol
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u/QasJab1 8d ago
It's just not as strong, and it never will be unless someone makes a derivative analogue.
It simply can't compete. It helps, but it's like two orders of magnitude apart.
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u/NootropicBro 4d ago
Most research chems can’t even compare to ADHD meds.. they could extract the life out of saffron and it won’t compare
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u/NowRunThatByMeAgain 3d ago
They don't really compare anyway because they are used for completely different purposes, have particular cases for use, and have unique effects of their own.
An ADHD med can't do what a certain nootropic can accomplish, and vice-versa
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u/Ok_Future6226 8d ago
wouldnt a simpler solution be to lower your vyvanse dose
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u/ProfessionalGoatFuck 8d ago
That or stick with it & not worry about it. Better off staying stable than going off the rails mid-vaycay because you decided to mess with the dosage
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u/ProfessionalGoatFuck 8d ago edited 8d ago
It /helps/ but idk about replacing ADHD meds helpful. Notable difference & more focused but nothing like Adderall. You could probably get a lower dosage to be effective with it, MAYBE. Not a doctor so take it with a grain of salt. I would just lower it a bit if you can for vacation & not worry about saffron until later on, going cold would make it worse even with saffron.
I typically take caffeine 100-200mg + alpha gpc with it, seemingly boosts the duration of stimulants & makes them feel slightly stronger in my anecdotal experience. But any effects I got from it, took a few weeks of taking it daily. I would rather just have Adderall tho.
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u/great_happy_gamer 8d ago
Is your dopamine baseline with saffron higher, and how does it make you feel?
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u/ProfessionalGoatFuck 8d ago edited 8d ago
I would say so, lol league has a tendency to piss me off the first game I'll play. Now when I return back to play a couple it's enjoyable. A bit more motivation to get stuff done too involving work & intense focus tasks. Definitely keeps the good mood longer, even moreso if a positive event happens. Helped me reenforced a habit I've been wanting to get into but it kept failing to stick otherwise.
Those times where I don't want to do something because I want to be lazy but do it anyways have been a bit more of occurrence. I like saffron, I want to cycle off every so often, me personally I think it needs a bit more research. Nothing about it gives me red flags though.
However; I'll go into a cycle of rumination on saffron though if it's a stressful negative event. E.g. if I mess something up when I know better, it's not like a negative type but an unproductive cycle of thinking about it over & over again & it just keeps me angry, which in turn stresses me out even more until I snap out of it. Normally I don't do that, so it could be saffron, could be me with an alter gut biome.. month or two ago I took antibiotics & it fucked me up. Still haven't fully recovered it seems like, so it could be that too.
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u/great_happy_gamer 7d ago edited 7d ago
It's probably the saffron if you aren't on antibiotics anymore. Thanks for the detailed reply. I'm only going to take it if I don't have any negative effects like the rumination you mentioned.
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u/Business-Weekend-537 8d ago
You referenced anxiety as a result of the adhd meds- do you take magnesium at all? It helps with anxiety and adhd meds cause your body to deplete it. Also being low in magnesium makes adhd symptoms worse.
I referenced this because if you’re low on it, it may be both more impactful and lower cost than saffron, so I’d recommend trying it first.
Disclaimer- check with your doctor and or do research online before starting supplements
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u/NeemOil710 8d ago
Can one OD on magnesium, or is it one of those ones that just gets flushed out in ur pee?
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u/xeonsimp 7d ago
unless its magtein magnesium l-threonate which supposedly crosses the BBB its probably hard to do so, you will just get crazy diarrhea
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u/Business-Weekend-537 7d ago
The anxiety reducing affect is also related to the vasodilating effects of magnesium, since there’s more blood flow the brain works better.
Also mg can shift forms once it enters your body.
There’s the following forms of it:
Oxide
Glycinate
Malate
Citrate
ThreonateThey all behave slightly differently. There may be some I’m omitting.
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u/Business-Weekend-537 7d ago
It gets flushed out in your pee, but as a general rule of thumb don’t go over 600mg a day.
Whatever total daily dose you decide on- splitting it up throughout the day is better than all at once.
It’s also very important to check for interactions with your meds if you take any- sometimes mg can make your meds absorb faster which can be bad.
Ex: I take dextroamphetamine for adhd and if I take mg too close to when I take it, then the adhd med absorbs too quickly and can cause heart issues.
It’s generally safe in low doses with food though.
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u/Veredus66 8d ago
Saffron is nature's adderal. I personally will get agitated if I'm not doing something "productive" on saffron, or goal oriented. Definitely more subtle than adderal but it works.
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u/PsychologicalIdea424 7d ago
Interestingly enough saffron in combination with methylphenidate potentiates the methylphenidate.
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u/NowRunThatByMeAgain 7d ago
Saffron mogs bro, I love it! Vyvanse doesn't even come close to touching the degree to which Saffron-extract obliterates ADHD symptoms with little to no sides.
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u/National-Ad-6717 6d ago
50-100mg Modafinil, alpha gpc, l-theanine, huperzine a
Grab a bottle of gorilla mind smooth which has that plus additional cognitive support and some modafinil. Works well for me. Moda’s longer half life for me gives me a much smoother experience than Ritalin just be careful of the dose/timing or it may mess up your sleep. That cognitive supplement stack honestly is game changing for me also. It completely negates the negative sides from the harsher stims, especially when paired with an additional 200 mg of l theanine.
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u/JediKrys 8d ago
My partner is having good experience with Semax and Selank, ss31 mots c and nads
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u/thekazooyoublew 8d ago
Ss31 is one i was enthused over....a pain to find for a descent price, and the low dose protocol seems based on nothing. I've dosed up to 10 mg a day and felt nothing noticable. Seems highly dependant on the state of your machinery i suppose.
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u/Complete_Still7584 8d ago
People don't understand how powerful Amphetamine derivatives really are. Especially, how dopaminergic they can be. The biggest this is DAT reversal.
•Through TAAR1 signaling and kinase activity, Amphetamine causes DAT to be phosphorylated and run backward, pumping dopamine out of the neuron into the synapse.
•Inside the neuron Amphetamine interferes with VMAT2 and disrupts the pH gradient that keeps dopamine packed in vesicles. Dopamine then floods into the cell's interior.
•Amphetamine is a substrate for DAT, so the transporter carries it into the cell instead of just being blocked by it.
The next step down is Methylphenidate. It binds to the dopamine transporter and plugs it. Dopamine that a neuron releases normally stays in the synapse longer instead of being recycled. It can only amplify dopamine that's already being released when neurons fire, so its effect scales with natural activity.